Sue-Toxin Waste Dump/Explaination of All Things "Sue"
By: 01:45, October 14, 2013 (UTC) Intro So, we're staring to have this Mary Sue problem again on the wiki, so I decided to try and describe every single little detail about Mary Sues to you in an unlikely attempt to solve the problem . Glossary (Not in alphabetical order, sorry, too lazy for that. Also, most of these phrases are what I call the given subject, and may have a different term elsewhere.) *Mary Sue - a "perfect" character in fictional writing. The monstrosity that plagues literature. *Sue Toxin - a phrase used on this wiki used to describe a page that has information that involves a Mary Sue character in it. *Flaws - part of a character's personality that makes the character "good" and believable *Character Traits - the character's personality and appearance *Suethor - contraction of the words "Sue" and "author" a person who uses Mary Sues in their writing *Sidekick - character who is used to make a Sue even more powerful, or a character who defends the sue *Puppet - like the sidekick, used to make the Sue seem even more perfect, but this character is normally killed or seriously injured in one way or another since it is against the sue. *Love Interest - a character who another character is in love with. *Gary Stu - a male Mary Sue *Over Powered (OP) - when a character is too strong. Characters defy certain death scenarios and are never injured by other characters. *Genderswapped - a character who is turned into the opposite gender *"All-knowing" - when a character knows everything about everyone and everything in the world. Generally used to point out an "evil" character and make everyone love the Sue even more. *Neutralize - to balance out a Sue trait with flaws *Self-insert Character - when the author makes a character that resembles their own traits. Is only bad when the character is OP. So, What is a Sue Anyway? A "Mary Sue" is a "perfect" character, meaning the character is highly idealized to teh point of being totally unbelievable. However, there are many "variations" to what a Sue is, but all are still very similar. Several types of Sues are listed below (all examples are human characters, but cn be applied to any OC regardless of species). '"Kawaii Desu":' This Sue is normally depicted with long, colorful hair and sparking eyes. She's generally between the 9-12 age group, but tends to look older. All the boys fall in love with her, she gets perfect grades, dress code laws obviously don't apply to her frills and mini-skirt, etc. Generally ethnically Japanese, or, well, white with a Japanese name. "Bishoujo": Basically a character who has super exaggerated curves in all the right places. The main difference between this one and "Kawaii Desu" is that this character is more "mature". Of course, they all have the other usual Sue traits as well as perfect beauty, such as being super strong, magical, etc. 'Angsty Sue:' This Sue normally has a tragic past and always talks about it. This, however, would be almost acceptable if coupled with the correct medical conditions, such as PTSD, but these characters are void of all of that. Often, these characters are "emo" or "scene." 'Sympathy Sue:' Sub-sue of Angsty Sue, this Sue is obsessed with attention. Well, the author is. Constantly making the other characters feel bad for her, Sympathy Sues are especially annoying in roleplays. Generally, if a character feels no sympathy for the Sue, they will be killed or hurt in one way or another. Not to be confused with the flaw, Attention Seeker. '' 'Copy-cat Sue: A OPed copy of another character. Often genderswapped. Ew, so What Makes a Character a Sue? A character's traits and how they affect the plot are what makes a character a Sue. '''Appearance: Appearance, although still a factor, does not fully determine if a character is a Sue or not. Stereotypical however have multicolored/unnatural colored hair, multicolored eyes, a super-idealized body, etc. 'Species: ' Generally these characters are "half" something as well as being human. Most common is half angel/demon. When your character is half of another species, unless that species is totally gross, you generally have to put and stress several flaws for this to balance out. 'Love:' Generally, all characters in the given piece writing will fall for the Sue. This generally even goes against a characters given "sexuality", which shows how ignorant the author is. Okay, That's Great, are There any Traits in Specific that I Should Look out for? *All-knowing *Tragic Past **Only with no signs of PTSD or related conditions *Name **Characters with names not of their own ethnicity (does not count for non-human character generally) **Comon names with spelling changed to sound more "special" **The names "Raven" and "Hunter" **Extremely long names with no reason behind it **Self-named character with no reason behind it *Multicolored hair, eyes, etc. *OP **Super strength, speed, etc. with technically no "superpower" **Shapeshifting ***Can be neutralized by either making the character only last in a different form for so long, only one other form, having the character have problems controlling the new form, or any of the above combined. **Avoiding death in certain death situations **Never being injured by other characters or scenarios *Half angel/demon/etc. **Commonly used **Hard to neutralize *Laws bend for the given character Any Flaws That Are Good? Here is my favorite for emotional flaws: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Character-Flaws-Emotional-100095578 I'll go into some more flaws in detail here: Attention Seeking: Character is insecure and needs attention from others. PTDS: Necessary for characters with horribly tragic pasts. Characters, and real people, suffer from nightmares, hallucinations, suicidal thoughts/actions, and several other symptoms. Should not be used to gain attention for character for the authors own purposes, or else it is generally not considered a flaw. Alcohol/Drug Addition: When a character has an addition to a substance and suffers negatively from it. Sloth, Greed, Wrath, Gluttony, Envy, Lust, and Pride: The reason people hate them so much is what makes them such good character flaws. Why do I Not Want to Have Sues? First of all, Sues are just damn annoying to RP with. They make other users frustrated and very angry at you for obvious reasons. Second of all, read this: http://trollpasta.wikia.com/wiki/My_Immortal (Warning: The link contains mature content) That Harry Potter fanfic is so poorly written it makes me want to throw up. It contains quite possibly the biggest Sue of all time, "Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way." You don't want to create another monstrosity like that. Sue-Misconceptions Things believed to make a character a sue when really it doesn't, or sometimes even makes the character more realistic. If the Author is Gay then the Character Can't be Gay!: Straight people make straight characters all the time, I don't see why gay people can't make gay characters. Characters Can't be Half of Two Ethnicities!: (As in "races", such as Chinese, German, French, Native American, etc.) Not everyone is a pure blooded white person or whatever. By that logic, I'm a Mary Sue being half "Mexican" and half Korean. Not everyone marries those of the same ethnic background. Characters Can't be Bi!: K, this goes all the way back to the stereotype that bi people have sex with everyone. Obviously, this isn't true. What ignorant morons are saying here is the characters should not have sex with every single character. You are not writing porn, at least not on this wiki, control yourself and your character before I kick your ass. Characters Can't be Asian!: I've heard this so many times and I'm like "Most of the God damn world is Asian...." This makes no sense whatsoever. I Still Need Help! I've always found this site to be very informative: http://www.springhole.net/index.html Remember, you have to read and be open to learning, or else you'll never be a good writer (or even a decent one)! Category:Sue-Toxin